Karl Eimermacher
The history of descriptive semiotics in the Soviet Union
Vjaceslav Vsevolodovic Ivanov
Introduction to the anthology "Symposium on Structural Investigation of
Sign Systems"
Vjaceslav Vsevolodovic Ivanov
Linguistics and the human scientific problems of semiotics
The evolution from representative signs to syntactic symbol signs
V. V. Ivanov und V. N. Toporov
The structure-typological approach in the semantic interpretation of works of
art from a diachronic persepective
Vladimir Nikolaevic Toporov
The origin of some poetic symbols.
The palaeolithical epoch
Jurij Michajlovic Lotman
Culture and text as generators of meaning
Analysis
Heinz Hafner
The system and the difference
Project
Christa Nauck-Börner
Structure and rmeaning in music
Peter Faltin's contribution
Literary report
Erhardt Güttgemanns
Semiotics and theology.
Theses on the history and function of semiotics in theology
The history of descriptive semiotics in the Soviet
Union
For Ju. M. Lotman's 60th birthday
Karl Eimermacher, University of Bochum
Summary. The development of descriptive semiotics in the Soviet Union is
considered to have taken place in two phases: the formation of semiotics
between 1900 and 1930/40 and its revival in the 1950s/60s. During the first
phase wide-ranging terminology was introduced; during the second, this
terminology was related to more fundamental concepts and systematized under the
influence of structural linguistics. While in the first phase the analytic
function of semiotics played the main role, the synthetic aspect gains
prominence in the second.
Introduction to the anthology "Symposium on
Structural Investigation of Sign Systems"
Vjaceslav Vsevolodovic Ivanov, Institute for Slav and Balkan studies, USSR
Academy of Sciences, Moscow
Summary. Attempting to design a program of (descriptive) semiotics, Ivanov
relates traditional semiotic terms (such as ,sign', ,sign system', ,expression
and content levels', etc.) to the concept of a 'model' and to other concepts
from structural linguistics and information theory. The objects of semiotic
studies are specified and analyzed typologically. Semiotics is considered as a
possible foundational discipline for the humanities.
Linguistics and the human scientific problems of
semiotics. The evolution from representative signs to syntactic symbol signs
Vjaceslav Vsevolodovic Ivanov, Institute for Slav and Balkan Studies, USSR
Academy of Sciences, Moscow
Summary. Analyzing insights gained in linguistics, the fine arts and ethnology,
Ivanov comes to the conclusion that there are universal laws governing the
decomposition of complex signs into elementary signs as well as the combination
of such elementary units into complex concepts or symbols. A typological
comparison of the facts of reality with the complex concepts correlated with
them is said to show that the latter are the result of various transformations
(-> icon, -> index, -> icon + index etc.). The natural languages as well as
texts (of myths, rites etc.) have universal semantic parameters in common which
must be taken into account in the investigation of both lexical deep semantics
and in the semantics of texts. From this Ivanov concludes that while
linguistics is basic for the other humanities, these in turn are of great
importance for the investigation of linguistic problems - a result which
necessitates the cooperation of scholars from many fields of research.
The structure-typological approach in the semantic
interpretation of works of art from a diachronic persepective
Vjaceslav Vsevolodovic Ivanov and Vladimir Nikolaevic Toporov,
Institute for Slav and Balkan Studies, USSR Academy of Sciences, Moscow
Summary. Part I of this article discusses processes of transformation applying
to signs of various sign systems (e.g. the natural languages, writing systems,
architecture, the fine arts etc.) and demonstrates the relevance of
structural-typological research for the clarification of genetic relations
between sign systems. According to the authors this research should be
conducted through compiling sign dictionaries and grammars for various
individual sign systems and through studying the modes of transformation that
can be found in texts based on these systems. Part II analyzes the subject of
the dragon slayer and its realizations in the fine arts. A basic structural
scheme is reconstructed which takes account of the variants and invariants of
historical representations of this subject. In Part III, the fact that the
structural scheme seems to be valid universally gives rise to a discussion of
its underlying anthropological constants. It is argued that such constants
generally condition the structures of sign systems and explain stability or
instability of semiotic structures in history.
The origin of some poetic symbols.
The palaeolithical epoch
Vladimir Nikolaevic Toporov, Institute for Slav and Balkan Studies, USSR
Academy of Sciences, Moscow
Summary. In this article, Toporov points out that even in the Palaeolithic
period man possessed the capacity to transform reality into symbols and in this
way to construct a symbolic world analogous to the factual. Aesthetically
marked phenomena in paintings of the Palaeolithic period and of the era of the
World Tree are analyzed. In Palaeolithic art the organization on the syntactic
and semantic levels within each drawing was only rudimentary, but in each
sanctuary the set of drawings as a whole showed an elaborate spatial
arrangement, as is demonstrated by the distribution of male and female symbols.
In the art of the era of the World Tree each drawing itself is organized
syntactically and semantically; semantic oppositions can be observed that are
arranged on two axes (vertical/horizontal). The overall subject of this period
is the fight of the positive, light, and heavenly principle (top, right, red)
with that of the negative, dark, and infernal (bottom, left, black).
Culture and text as generators of meaning
Jurij Michajlovic Lotman, University of Tartu (Dorpat)
Summary. Lotman discusses the essential features of intelligence in order to
construct a model of artificial intelligence. Observing that every culture
tends to increase the number of its sign systems and the diversity of its
texts, he criticizes the practice of the humanities of studying only recurrent
phenomena and their invariant models. Lotman argues for a stronger
consideration of individual differences, i. e. of the creative aspect.
Creativity in culture seems tied to text producing abilities such as those
practiced by the interlocutors in dialogues. As an intellectual device of the
individual and of a culture as a whole, creativity - in addition to logical
inference and memory - must be taken into account in the modelling of
artificial intelligence.
